Influenza A virus

The World Health Organization voiced alarm Thursday at the growing spread of H5N1 bird flu to new species, including humans, who face an "extraordinarily high" mortality rate.

"This remains I think an enormous concern," the U.N. health agency's chief scientist Jeremy Farrar told reporters in Geneva.

The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) issued a stark warning regarding the looming threat of a large-scale bird flu pandemic, underscoring the potential consequences if the virus were to transition to humans and establish human-to-human transmission.

It has long been known by scientists that many bacteria and viruses cause illnesses by first attaching themselves to sugar molecules on the cell surfaces lining mammals' sinuses and throats, including humans. For example, viral particles can cling to these molecules--also known as sialic acids, or SAs--in a manner similar to that of keys inserted into locks.

For now, it is known that it is a mysterious pneumonia that is once again ravaging the country.
Beijing says that no new virus is to blame for the chaos, and officials have told people to wear masks, social distance and stay at home if they don't feel well, while health workers attribute the increase in cases to the flu and other common diseases.

China has confirmed the first known human case of the H3N8 strain of avian flu, but health authorities say there is a low risk of widespread transmission among people.

H3N8 is known to have been circulating since 2002 after first emerging in North American waterfowl. It is known to infect horses, dogs and seals, but has not previously been detected in humans.

"Currently, the situation is epidemic. Every negative test is questionable in itself." This was said on bTV by Dr. Nedyalko Kalachev, owner of a chain of laboratories.

They report that the previously circulating strain mutated and is now more contagious to humans.

Over 18,000 birds have been affected by the avian flu at a farm in the town of Sieni, Maramures county (northern Romania), the diseased birds to be sacrificed.

The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency said it has set additional measures to prevent and eradicate bird flu after the confirmed outbreaks, reports Focus News Agency. 

Until mid-November, 26 outbreaks of the H5N8 virus were confirmed in the regions of Dobrich, Plovdiv, Haskovo, Stara Zagora and Yambol. The total number of birds in all affected farms is over 1 million.

China could be facing the worst bout of bird flu to hit the country in a century, with Avian Influenza A(H7N9) accounting for the deaths of 79 people in January from the 192 human cases reported so far.